Just looking at the new intense tracer and it does tick all the boxes for me. Right sort of travel, could be run with 32’s or 36’s. Sensible headtube that can do angleset. Bolt through back end. Sensibly slack geometry. Tabs for a chain device. Reasonable weight. Reasonable price too. And I like VPP bikes. But… heard lots of horror stories of cracking Intense frames which is a big negative. Reading mtbr consensus seems to be that if you buy an intense it will crack.

Dilemma is that I’ve looked at so many bikes and I’ve not seen any that ticks my boxes in the same way as the tracer 2. Question in my minds is if I get one will it break? And what other frames have I missed that meet the above criteria? The only other one I can think of is the mojo HD and that’s a lot more £.